Sub Rosa

[prof_pangaea]

Title: Sub Rosa
Author: Professor Pangaea
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes
Disclaimer: Mr. Holmes and sundry other characters are now in the public domain, but of course I give ultimate credit and thanks for their existence to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Summary: "One of the most attractive things about the flowers is their beautiful reserve. The truly beautiful and noble puts its lover, as it were, at an infinite distance, while it attends him more strongly than ever." -- Henry David Thoreau
























































































































































































Note: The full quote of the text "High and mighty" etc. is from Hamlet, Act IV, scene vii. It is a letter from Hamlet to Claudius, and reads: "High and Mighty,-You shall know I am set naked on your kingdom. To-morrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes; when I shall (first asking your pardon thereunto) recount the occasion of my sudden and more strange return."


EDIT: I want to sincerely thank everyone who has commented, both positively and critically -- I am very pleased at the amount of response that has resulted from this piece. I'm afraid that there were so many comments initially that I wasn't able to reply to each individually, as I usually do, but be assured that I have (and continue to) read and appreciate every single comment.

Comments

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

I was directed here by synaesthete7's [insanely enthusiastic] rec on RUSS-L, but I would have found it soon enough anyway. And I was impressed when you started telling me about this in IM, but having seen the finished product, I'm in awe. I never imagined that you could fit so much emotion and pathos, not only into an exchange between the Holmes brothers (who don't do melodrama), but into the telegram format. Which I would normally have said was only slightly more romantic than a text message.

Your attention to detail in the images is also brilliant. I'm simply blown away by every aspect of this achievement.

[prof-pangaea.livejournal.com]

No1TEK: i need mny
M2theH: Wr R U???
No1TEK: i stl need mny
M2theH: yr frnd s sad
No1TEK: lalala
M2TheH: hr s yr mny
M2theH: tlk to me now?
No1TEK: no
M2theH: uv bn gon a lng tme
M2theH: ur frnd s stl sad
No1TEK: stfu

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

Well, my life is now complete.

[prof-pangaea.livejournal.com]

I think the name "M2theH" might be my everlastingly greatest achievement.

Also, in seriousness, thank you, because the emotion is the reason I made this piece, and I am very glad that it actually works. The encrypted language of the telegram itself was nothing compared to the encryption that surrounded every syllable of the Holmes brothers' incredible Britishness.